Are 175's enough in my....

[qwiksilver]

120 gallon 48x24x24. I am using a 175 on each side with a 250 in the middle. I have mainly SPS and was planning on keeping them near the top with the lights about 5" or so above the tank. Any thoughts?

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like plenty. At 5" I'd be careful with overheating.

 

[qwiksilver]

The things is, I was going to go 20K XM on the 2 175's and and 10K XM on the 250. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[coastal]

400s across the board

 

[qwiksilver]

I can't go with 400's because I live in a small apartment and that circuit is shared with half the suite. Would be nice, but I can't. Anyone else do this (175's on a 24" deep tank)?

 

[ricky1414]

I would personally go with a 150 watt DE 20k in the middle, and two 250 watt DE's (10k?) for the left and right.

 

[Anonymous]

The things is, I was going to go 20K XM on the 2 175's and and 10K XM on the 250. Any thoughts? Thanks

IMO that would be plenty. I wish I did the same. I have 3x175 watts over my 125 with 2x40watt actinics.

 

[qwiksilver]

Thanks for the input. I just went back and exchanged the 2 175's for 2x250's. So, I will go with 3 250's, the centre one only being on for about 4-5 hours. Now I have to decide: 2 20K and 1 10K, or 2 10's and 1 20?

 

[Anonymous]

I prefer mine a little bluer, so I would go for 2x20K's on the outsides and the 10K in the middle. It will also give a dawn dusk effect.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I like the bluer look too however not pure actinic or 20kk...I hate the pure blue look..It looks good under the ocean but i want to view my inhabitants with a little more visual appeal..IMO...so I second ANEMONEBUFFs opinion on 2X 20kk and 1 10kk

 

[qwiksilver]

Thanks for the input. :lol: I like the blue effect as well, and I think with having the 1 10k and the 2 20's it should balance out well, and at the same time supply enough par for the corals!

 

[Jolieve]

I like the white look. My tank is in my formal living room with my queen anne style furniture and all that stuff, so I don't want people to walk in and see this giant blue light changing my red chairs to purple. I like 10,000k.

J.

 

[ricky1414]

But what if you like purple chairs?

 

[Jolieve]

Then you'd be all right

J.

 

[qwiksilver]

Well, the 1 10k should tone it down quite a bit, and if the xm 20k is anything like the hamilton 20k I have, it will be white anyway. I thought it was supposed to be blue, but I guess hamilton thought they should make it whiter than their 14k. I have been extremely disappointed with their bulbs. Even other tanks running the 20k's have been white. So, I won't be going with hamilton ever again.